AP Physics 1 Course Content Students explore principles of Newtonian mechanics (including rotational motion); work, energy, and power; mechanical waves and sound; and introductory, simple circuits.The course is based on six Big Ideas, which encompass core scientific principles, theories, and processes that cut across traditional boundaries and provide a broad way of thinking about the physical world.
The following are Big Ideas: • Objects and systems have properties such as mass and charge. Systems may have internal structure. • Fields existing in space can be used to explain interactions. • The interactions of an object with other objects can be described by forces. • Interactions between systems can result in changes in those systems. • Changes that occur as a result of interactions are constrained by conservation laws. • Waves can transfer energy and momentum from one location to another without the permanent transfer of mass and serve as a mathematical model for the description of other phenomena.
Students explore principles of Newtonian mechanics (including rotational motion); work, energy, and power; mechanical waves and sound; and introductory, simple circuits.The course is based on six Big Ideas, which encompass core scientific principles, theories, and processes that cut across traditional boundaries and provide a broad way of thinking about the physical world.
The following are Big Ideas:
• Objects and systems have properties such as mass and charge. Systems may have internal structure.
• Fields existing in space can be used to explain interactions.
• The interactions of an object with other objects can be described by forces.
• Interactions between systems can result in changes in those systems.
• Changes that occur as a result of interactions are constrained by conservation laws.
• Waves can transfer energy and momentum from one location to another without the permanent transfer of mass and serve as a mathematical model for the description of other phenomena.